BoJ Action Expectations Lift Nikkei 3%, Fast Retailing jumps 14%

Hiruki Nakamura
03 Apr, 2013
New York City

Stocks in Tokyo surged the most in nearly two months as Bank of Japan began a two-day meeting. Expectations of accelerated and larger bond buying program from the central bank lifted the Nikkei 3%. Fast Retailing surged 14% on same store sales jump of 23%.

[R]5:30 PM Tokyo – Stocks in Tokyo surged the most in nearly two months as Bank of Japan began a two-day meeting. Expectations of accelerated and larger bond buying program from the central bank lifted the Nikkei 3%. Fast Retailing surged 14% on same store sales jump of 23%.[/R]

Stocks in Tokyo soared as the Bank of Japan began its two-day meeting and investors stepped up the expectations of accelerated bond buying program to begin soon.

Market expectations were high after individual investors sold stocks last week and the benchmark Nikkei index soared 3%, the most since February 6. The yen also weakened.

Most economists are expecting the central bank to announce a plan to buy unlimited amount of government bonds as early as tomorrow. Bank of Japan is expected to increase the monthly bond buying by 50% to 5.2 trillion or $55 billion or more.

The yen decreased against the dollar and closed at 93.52.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average climbed 358.77 or 3% to 12,362.20 and the broader Topix Index jumped 19.09 or 1.9% to 1,010.43.

Stocks in Review

Fast Retailing soared 14% to 35,650 yen after it reported 23% jump in same store sales on an extra Sunday in March and warmer than normal weather conditions.

Tokyo Electric surged 24% to 313 yen after the company switched to coal-fired power plants and is expected to save as much as 175 billion yen a year according to a report by Kyodo News.

Toyota Motor Corp jumped 175 yen to 4,790 yen and Honda Motor Co. soared 155 yen to 3,525 yen and Nissan Motor Co Ltd climbed 33 yen to 889 yen. Yamaha Motor Co Ltd gained 12 yen to 1,210 yen. Mitsubishi Motors Corp increased 4 yen or 4.3% to 97 yen.

Nippon Steel slipped 6 yen to 216 yen and JFE Holdings Inc fell 48 yen to 1,646 yen.

Sony rose 11 yen to 1,570. Canon Inc gained 25 yen to 3,270 yen and Nikon slumped 22 yen to 2,130 yen. TDK Corp added 5 yen to 3,205 yen. NEC soared 14 yen or 6.1% to 245 yen.

Nintendo Co. Ltd increased 190 yen to 9,950 yen.

Fanuc Corp. climbed 150 yen to 14,280 yen and Komatsu Ltd dropped 43 yen to 2,080 yen. Hitachi Construction Machinery Co lowered 19 yen to 1,949 yen.

Softbank Corp surged 215 yen or 5% to 4,485 yen.

FamilyMart Co Ltd, the convenience chain operator rose 15 yen to 4,235 yen and Lawson closed unchanged at 7,030 yen. Ito En Ltd jumped 27 yen to 2,206 yen.

Seven & I Holdings Co slid 3 yen to 2,990 yen. Fast Retailing Co. climbed 4,350 yen or 13.9% to 35,650 yen and J. Front Retailing Co. Ltd gained 5 yen to 712 yen.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group up 4 yen to 548 yen and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group rose 20 yen to 3,715 yen. Dai-Ichi Life added 0.4% to 119,100 yen. Nomura Holdings, Inc increased 4 yen to 560 yen.